Euthanasia in Animal Shelters - Whose Fault Is It?

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This is another article from Pam D'Addio from Dog Rescue Examiner. I am sharing it with her permission.

It's easy to blame the person holding the syringe when a beautiful, healthy, friendly animal dies solely because it's homeless. However, we need to look deeper to follow the levels of this issue all the way back to its heart. Shelter euthanasia is the symptom, not the cause. Who's to blame, really?

Shelters and their staff are often vilified for humanely euthanizing millions of animals that wind up in their care each year. But open-admission shelters are obligated to take in all animals that come their way. Decisions are made to euthanize, not by cold hearts but by administrators and staff whose facilities simply don't have the space or funds to care for the constant flood of unwanted, surrendered, abused, neglected and stray animals who pass through their doors day in and day out.

There are just too many dogs and cats in the world and not enough homes for them all.

People often complain that shelter staff were 'rude' to them when they surrendered an animal. Have they ever been on the other side of the counter, listening to someone say, "My dog is pregnant and I can't handle puppies", "I'm moving and can't bring him", or "I wanted my child to see the miracle of birth but I can't keep these kittens"....or maybe all three of these in the first hour of a busy day?

Animals are 'dumped' at shelters and people walk out the door relieved that the pets are no longer their responsibility. Many of them even optimistically believe the fairy tale ending of, "they'll find my ex-pet a wonderful home".

Maybe.

As they're driving away, the race against the clock begins for the furbaby left behind. If it's lucky, it's given a vet check, food, water, a bed in a secure area and a 'few days' to charm a passer-by into adoption. (So many are too afraid and traumatized to 'show well' in their cage in order to win someone over.) They may need vaccinations, flea and tick treatment, spay or neutering, heartworm preventative or treatment, or a myriad of other medications or procedures.

CHA-CHING!

Before the day is over, the animal could cost the shelter facility hundreds of dollars as well as very precious, limited space. Most shelters are strapped for funds and full to capacity at all times. Some shelters immediately put down dogs who are older or of a particular breed without them ever being given a chance to find a new home. This 'selection' process is based on experience with adoption and the need to pick and choose which animals the limited funds can best serve.

Some statistics that bring the problem into focus in a hurry...

• 50,000 puppies and kittens are born each day in the U.S
• A ratio of 1 pet with a home to 4 who are abandoned, abused, neglected, homeless
• 1 female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in 7 years
• 1 female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 pups in 6 years
• Only abut 19% of owned dogs and 22% of cats were obtained from a shelter or rescue
• 50% of dogs in shelters were brought in as strays without any identification and only 15% of these will be reunited with their families

So it's easy to see the problem here. The billions of dollars we spend sheltering is a band-aid where a tourniquet is needed. Shelters and rescues cannot keep up. They operate in a perpetually frantic state of trying to prevent their deaths and yet 60% of shelter dogs and 70% of shelter cats never make it out alive. It's an inefficient, costly, heart-wrenching race to quickly find enough loving homes.

Those who actually euthanize animals often suffer ridicule as well as extreme depression and burnout on the job even though most shelters rotate the technicians who euthanize into other areas and other jobs at the facility. But every day, cages fill up and countless innocents make the long walk down the short hall to their death. It's a horrible job but someone has to do it, and those many euthanasia techs who are truly kind-hearted animal-lovers take pride in making the passing as easy as possible even as their hearts break over and over again.

Humane euthanasia in a shelter is, for most, a far better end than what they may suffer on the streets. A painless death in the arms of a caring technician is better than starvation, illness, injury, dehydration, and encounters with other animals or with vehicles. If shelters stopped euthanizing animals, it would not stop animals from dying...it would stop them from dying humanely.

Another 'fairy tale' that people want to believe is that only old, injured, ill, or aggressive animals are put to sleep. In reality, millions of those put down are beautiful, healthy, friendly, young and happy even as they are euthanized. Again, it's a numbers game and animals of all types lose.

No-kill shelters do their best to protect as many animals as possible, but their costs are high since they sometimes keep animals for years if they're not adopted. Rarely government funded, they struggle to fundraise and solicit donations. Those animals lucky enough to land in their care are saved but they can only do so much for so many. Those turned away when no-kills are full often land in government animal care and control facilities where their clock starts ticking.

So, again, whose fault is it?

The saddest part is how preventable most of the overpopulation is. It's a worn refrain of Dog Rescue Examiner articles.....

ADOPT, SPAY / NEUTER, TAG / MICROCHIP, AND LOVE YOUR PETS FOR LIFE.

Further, work to educate people on responsible pet ownership (share these articles!) and urge legislators to pass laws that require mandatory spay/neuter of cats and dogs and prevent puppy mills.

Don't vilify those who are left to deal with society's surplus. We live in a 'disposable' culture where pets are often obtained on a whim (click here to read about pop culture's effect on shelters) and then discarded just as easily. Who's there to deal with the collateral damage? Shelters, rescues, their staff, volunteers, and individuals who all work hard every day to try to keep up.

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.....join the fight.

Follow Pam D'Addio on facebook @ Dog Rescue Examiner for more.

Crunching the numbers...click here for statistics on pet ownership and adoption.

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Rescue Poem

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Once I was a lonely dog, just looking for a home.
I had no place to go, no one to call my own.
I wandered up and down the streets, in rain, in heat and snow.
I ate whatever I could find, I was always on the go.

My skin would itch, my feet were sore, my body ached with pain.
And no one stopped to give a pat or to gently say my name.
I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run.
For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.

And then one day I heard a voice...so gentle, kind and sweet,
And arms so soft reached down to me and took me off my feet.
"No one again will hurt you" was whispered in my ear.
"You'll have a home to call your own where you will know no fear."

"You will be dry, you will be warm, you'll have enough to eat.
And rest assured that when you sleep, your dreams will all be sweet."
I was afraid I must admit, I've lived so long in fear.
I can't remember when I let a human come so near.

And as she tended to my wounds and bathed and brushed my fur
She told me 'bout the rescue group and what it meant to her.
She said, "We are a circle, a line that never ends.
And in the center there is you protected by new friends."

"And all around you are the ones that check the pounds,
And those that share their home after you've been found."
"And all the other folk are searching near and far.
To find the perfect home for you, where you can be a star."

She said, "There is a family, that's waiting patiently,
and pretty soon we'll find them, just you wait and see."
"And then they'll join our circle they'll help to make it grow,
so there'll be room for more like you, who have no place to go."

I waited very patiently, the days they came and went.
Today's the day I thought, my family will be sent.
Then just when I began to think it wasn't meant to be,
there were people standing there, just gazing down at me.

I knew them in a heart beat, I could tell they felt it too.
They said, "We have been waiting for a special dog like you."
Now every night I say a prayer to all the gods that be.
"Thank you for the life I live and all you've given me.

But most of all protect the dogs in the pound and on the street.
And send a Rescue Person to lift them off their feet."

-- Arlene Pace (September 18, 1998)

When I (Arlene Pace) wrote this poem it was inspired by my foster Sheltie "Patchie: who by the way is in a home where he is the light of their eyes. I think now that it is more in the way I see the rescue efforts of all the people that are doing such a great a job all over this country. So I wish to dedicate this poem to all of you in rescue, the doers, the helpers, the donators of money and/or time and tears. [Please feel free to recopy, reprint or resend to anyone.]

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A follow-up to my "Heartbreak and Hounds" post

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(this is Enna)

About a week ago I wrote about the difficulties of working to get homeless pets adopted and how heartbreaking it can be at times. I also wrote about a little beagle mix that I fell in love with at our adoption fair that day.

I am happy to report that Enna, the little beagle mix, has found a new home! I volunteered at the Scott County Humane Society booth at the Scott County Fair last week, and this wonderful couple fell in love with Enna just as I did. They filled out their application, and I got to take her home that night and keep her until they picked her up the next day. She is such a sweetie. I gave her a bath and trimmed her nails, and she slept in the bed with me for a while. It was hard to hand her over on Saturday, but I know she is going to be pampered and loved at her new home.

THAT, my friends, is what makes all the hard work and heartbreak worth it. Like it says in the "Starfish" poem in my other post, I may not be able to save them all, but I made a difference to that one. :)

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Heartbreak and Hounds

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I feel sick. I feel sad. I feel sort of shell-shocked.

I worked with the local Humane Society tonight at an adoption fair we were having. It was great to see several puppies get new homes, but hardly anyone looked at the adult dogs. They sat in their cages watching people walk by, wagging their tails and hoping for some attention. Most people didn't even look at them. They went to the pen with the fat, playful puppies in it. These are all great dogs that have been cast aside for one reason or another. At the end of our adoption fair, back to the shelter they went. Some may be adopted later. The majority will be euthanized. I fell in love with a little female beagle mix whose eyes were half blue and half brown. She was the sweetest little dog and just wanted to be cuddled. She went back to the shelter, too, but I told them NOT to euthanize her without calling me first. I will find a home for that little girl no matter what. I cried all the way home. (more....)

It makes me sick how our society treats its companion animals. We treat them as disposable property, like they have no feelings. Folks....these are sentient beings capable of feeling fear, joy, sadness, anger, and they are able to feel and give more love than most people I know.
How do we repay that love? We abuse them, starve them, leave them chained in the yard alone and ignored, dumped out onto the street, or we take them to the shelter because we "just don't have time for them anymore." The worst one of all is someone who has had a dog for 8 or 9 years or more who then takes it to the shelter because it's "too old." The poor dog sits in the cage, alone and scared, waiting for his master to come and get him. Only he never does.

It breaks my heart.

If I sound angry, I am. If I sound bitter, I am. If you think I'm still upset and teary-eyed about this, you'd be right.

Why bother, you ask? Why worry about that little beagle mix when there are dozens of other dogs in that shelter who need homes, too? Here's why....

The Parable of the Starfish

One morning an elderly man was walking on a nearly deserted beach. He came upon a boy surrounded by thousands and thousands of starfish. As eagerly as he could, the youngster was picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean.

Puzzled, the older man looked at the young boy and asked, "Little boy, what are you doing?"
The youth responded without looking up, "I'm trying to save these starfish, sir."

The old man chuckled aloud, and queried, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?"

Holding a starfish in his hand, the boy turned to the man and, gently tossing the starfish into the water, said, "It will make a difference to that one!"

(source unknown)

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